2021 Virtual Annual Event
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
?! 2021 Virtual Annual Event Thursday MAY 20, 2021 7-8:15 PM The mission of the Youth Advocacy Foundation (YAF) is to end the school- to-prison pipeline in Massachusetts by ensuring that our state's most vulnerable children receive a quality education through expert legal advocacy. By envisioning a future in which all youth enjoy the full rights and protections of a fair and equitable justice system, YAF works to decrease the risk of chronic court involvement and to increase the chance that young people grow into healthy, thriving adults through zealous legal representation, vibrant community-based services, and equitable access to quality education. YAF's EdLaw Project has been in existence since 2001 and has provided direct representation to over 2,000 children The EdLaw Project exists to ensure that the most vulnerable children in Massachusetts--court-involved youth from low-income families, often with disabilities, and predominantly children of color--have equitable access to a quality education by providing legal representation in matters of school discipline, academic failure, and unmet special needs. EdLaw offers training and support to court-appointed attorneys across the state to help them incorporate education advocacy into their practice. EdLAw attorneys are organized by region, and support the 1000 person juvenile bar that represents the 20-25,000 kids involved in the child welfare or juvenile justice systems. By advancing education advocacy, the EdLaw Project seeks to address one of the root causes of the school-to-prison pipeline: children being pushed out of or failing in school. As a result of the work of the EdLAw attorneys, many children are remaining in school with the service they need to thrive. EVENT PROGRAM Reconnection 2021: Closing the Gap Virtual Gala MUSIC Moussa Segars & Israel Anselme Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra Musicians OPENING REMARKS De'Lon Grant, MC Broadway Star, "Come From Away" WELCOME Joshua Dohan YAD Director & YAF Board President CLIENT STORY Eric Rentas & Olga Rivera INTRODUCTION OF YAF/EDLAW STAFF Marlies Spanjaard YAF Executive Director KEYNOTE SPEAKER Allison Feaster Former WNBA Star & Boston Celtics VP of Player Development & Organizational Growth CLIENT STORY Jalen Bing Wallace & Michelle Braxton POEM Alondra Bobadilla 2020 Boston Youth Poet Laureate AUCTION, RAFFLE, FUND-A-NEED CLOSING REMARKS AND SONG De'Lon Grant : OUR PEOPLE Our Board Ami Fatula Joshua Dohan, President Vanessa Hernandez Amy Feinman, Clerk Steven J. Pacini Theresa Flaherty, Vice President Katherine Hall Page LaKeisha M. Gandy, Treasurer Deb Poppel Jeremy Cohn, Emeritus Krishna Ramaswamy Edith Bazile Tim Sindelar Laura Bickel Bridget Treco Our Staff YAF Marlies Spanjaard, Executive Director Michele Scavongelli, Deputy Director Jackie Stimpson, Acting Operations and Development Coordinator EDLAW PROJECT Marlies Spanjaard, Director of Education Advocacy Michaela Bland, Skadden Fellow/Counsel Ashley Dalton, Equal Justice Works Fellow/Counsel Elizabeth Levitan, Counsel Erin Hehn O'Sullivan, Senior Counsel Michele Scavongelli, Senior Counsel Event Host Committee Peter Alvarez Ken Nordstrom David Apfel Katherine Hall Page Edith Bazile Ken Parsigian Laura Bickel Deb Poppel Jeremy Cohn Hank Phillippi Ryan Chris DiMeo and Robert Saoud Lisa Rechtschaffen Ami Fatula Alison Sclater Theresa Flaherty Jonathan Shapiro Vanessa Hernandez Randi Sterrn Gregg Katz Bridget Treco Amy Mariani LETTER FROM THE YOUTH ADVOCACY FOUNDATION Dear Friends, We are thrilled to “see” your faces as we come together, once again virtually, to reflect on a year like no other. The pandemic has been devastating to the education landscape for our clients. However, you all have stepped up for the children of Massachusetts and we couldn’t be more grateful! Together we continue our fight for education equity for the children of Massachusetts. Over the past year, thanks to your support, we have represented over 130 families, answered over 400 requests for assistance, and provided 45 trainings on education rights to over 1,000 participants, including parents, students, lawyers and youth-serving professionals. The work to reconnect our clients to their education is going to take our continued focus and collaboration. We have seen first hand how the already alarming inequities and disparities in education were magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Massachusetts ranks in the bottom three states in terms of racial and ethnic disparities in educational attainment, as well as in juvenile arrest and incarceration rates. Black, Latinx and low- income students continue to more likely to be learning remotely as compared to their white peers in more affluent areas, resulting in greater learning loss and gaps in achievement. Seventy percent of our children of color are coming out of fourth grade not proficient in reading or math. Although Black students make up only 9% of the student body statewide, 40% of the students who are handcuffed in school are Black. In Boston, a recent report found that Black students made up 1/3 of the student body but comprise 2/3 of arrests. Black students are too often treated as threats and not children, their voices ignored, and their pain dismissed as they are kicked out of the school building, physically restrained, and arrested. Children and youth who are given a meaningful opportunity to succeed in school are overwhelming likely to go to college and/or into the work force. YAF’s main initiative, the EdLaw Project, is designed to assure equitable educational outcomes and will inevitably lead to a substantial reduction in the number of people imprisoned in our state and nation and to pathways out of poverty for families and communities of color. As we fight for education equity for the most vulnerable children in the state, your continued support is critical. We appreciate you joining in the fight and look forward to reconnecting in person in the near future. OUR EMCEE AND KEYNOTE SPEAKER BOSTON CELTICS VP OF BROADWAY STAR, PLAYER DEVELOPMENT & "COME FROM AWAY" ORGANIZATIONAL GROWTH DE'LON GRANT ALLISON FEASTER EMCEE KEYNOTE SPEAKER De’Lon Grant is an actor and singer currently Allison Feaster is Vice President of Player performing on Broadway in the Tony Award Development & Organizational Growth for the nominated hit musical Come From Away. He Boston Celtics. She is a former professional spent three years touring domestically and basketball player, a global citizen, and a internationally as Berry Belson in the Tony trailblazer in the sports industry who is highly Award winning musical Jersey Boys and was regarded for her leadership and teambuilding recently named Best Leading Actor at the 2017 skills. During her decorated college basketball IRNE Awards for his portrayal of Haywood career, Feaster was the first player in any sport Patterson in Kander and Ebb’s The Scottsboro to be honored as Ivy League Player of the Year Boys; a role for which he also received an Elliot three times, leading the first-ever NCAA Norton Award Nomination. Division-I Tournament upset of No. 16 seed Harvard against No. 1 seed Stanford. She was a Some of his other credits include: Frederick first-round WNBA draft pick and went on to an Douglass in Douglass (The Wit Theatre, Chicago, 17-year professional playing career in the US, IL), Tod Clifton in Invisible Man (The Studio Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal. Following Theatre, Washington, DC and The Huntington her retirement from playing in 2016, Feaster Theatre, Boston, MA), Jim in Big River (Lyric joined the NBA’s Basketball Operations Stage Company, Boston; Arkansas Shakespeare Management Development Program. After Theatre, Conway, AR; The Barnstomers, serving as the lead of Player Personnel & Coach Tamworth, NH), Achilles in Troilus and Relations for the NBA G-League, she joined the Cressida (Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Boston, Boston Celtics organization where she MA), Posthumous/Cloten in Cymbeline (Actors’ currently leads Player Development & Shakespeare Project, Boston, MA), Gaspard in A Organizational Growth. Beyond the court, Tale of Two Cities (The Wheelock Family Feaster serves as a co-lead for Boston Celtics Theatre, Boston, MA), Kaine in Dessa Rose (The United, the Celtics’ social justice initiative to New Repertory Theatre, Watertown, MA) and impact social and racial inequities in Black and Sawyer in Harriet Jacobs (Underground Railway Brown communities in Greater Boston. She Theatre, Boston, MA). maintains her role as an active public speaker, a champion of the advancement of women and De'Lon holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Acting girls, and serves as a global advocate for sport, from the University of Michigan and a Master in including serving as a Sports Envoy for the US Music with concentration in Musical Department of State, Bureau of Educational Theatre Performance from The Boston and Cultural Affairs. Feaster is a graduate of Conservatory of Music. Harvard College (BA, Economics), the Universidad Europea (MBA), and Harvard Keep up with De'Lon at www.thedelon.com Business School (Exec Ed, Business of Entertainment, Media, & Sports). OUR OPENING MUSICIANS BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MUSICIANS ISRAEL ANSELME MOUSSA GUEYE Israel is a 16 year old sophomore at Brookline Moussa is a happy-go-lucky 16 year old, who High School. He has been a member of the studies carpentry at Minuteman Regional Intensive Community Program and Boston Youth Technical High School. Moussa is a violist with Symphony Orchestra since he was 5 years old. the Intensive Community Program and the He loves playing the viola and the violin and Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, and has been playing violin and viola since he was 5. He talking about his favorite pieces. He is an avid loves mentoring younger students and going to reader who plays sports and video games, and music camp in the summer. In his free time he if you can't find him he is probably binge- plays video games with Israel and also loves to watching anime. do tricks on his scooter. He frequently whistles while he works, to the joy of those around him.